If you’ve ever been to a motorshow, seen a small engineering company’s interpretation of a beefed up road car and wondered where on earth it’ll ever race then look no further than the Dubai 24 Hours.

Run in early January and now in its fourth year, the event has become an unofficial season curtain raiser for the motorsport world. The Middle-East’s first round the clock enduro attracts a smorgasbord of machinery, from the obligatory Porsche 911 to the truly exotic BMW 120d. Who said the German’s had no sense of humour?